ClimateBook
climatebook.bsky.social
ClimateBook
@climatebook.bsky.social
This is the BlueSky feed of Raymond T. Pierrehumbert, Professor of Planetary Physics at the University of Oxford. Tune in for news about Principles of Planetary Climate, and diverse science and political commentary. (Also folk music news)
Reposted by ClimateBook
Senator Susan Collins killed the amendment to protect the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) -- perhaps the world's premier research center for work on #weather, #climate, models, and remote sensing. Remember that.
January 15, 2026 at 11:56 PM
Shame showers down on the shoulders of the Royal Society leadership.
Paul Nurse, interviewed by the FT about whether @royalsociety.org should expel Musk said: "the institution should only expel fellows if their science proved “faulty or fraudulent or highly defective”". That implies the Society's Code of Conduct is utterly meaningless.
January 10, 2026 at 11:22 PM
Reposted by ClimateBook
And finally, the awarding of this year's lectureships!

Professor Suzanne Aigrain, of @oxfordphysics.bsky.social, is awarded the George Darwin Lectureship. 🥳
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January 9, 2026 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by ClimateBook
Congratulations to Prof Suzanne Aigrain (@airbornegrain.bsky.social), who has been awarded the George Darwin Lectureship!
And finally, the awarding of this year's lectureships!

Professor Suzanne Aigrain, of @oxfordphysics.bsky.social, is awarded the George Darwin Lectureship. 🥳
⤵️
January 9, 2026 at 4:34 PM
Continuing my discussion of solar geoengineering startup Stardust, and the article www.politico.com/news/magazin... . The significant new material in this article is towards the end, and describes the marketing slide deck Stardust is using to promote their technology. The alarming thing is ...
The Strange and Totally Real Plan to Blot Out the Sun and Reverse Global Warming
A 25-person startup is developing technology to block the sun and turn down the planet’s thermostat. The stakes are huge — and the company and its critics say regulations need to catch up.
www.politico.com
January 9, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Spurred by The Guardian's solar geoengineering debacle, I'm picking up now on a thread I set down before the holidays, namely news coverage of the for-profit Israeli startup Stardust, which has been aggressively engineering and marketing solar geoengineering. I already discussed Betsy Kolbert's
January 9, 2026 at 10:03 PM
I also wonder what @billmckibben.bsky.social thinks of The Guardian's U-turn into a solar geoengineering booster, as evidenced by their recent six-part one sided series endorsing development of the technology. Bill's book "Here comes the Sun" shows the right way forward, ...
January 9, 2026 at 8:35 PM
Further to The Guardian's series promoting solar geoengineering, I'll note that most of the voices they platformed are the usual suspects, who are trying to make a name for themselves by growing their SRM research programmes -- they are stakeholders in growing the research
January 9, 2026 at 8:33 PM
Apropos of The Guardian's recent all-out six part endorsement of developing solar geoengineering technology (and let's not pretend it's "just research") I wonder what @georgemonbiot.bsky.social thinks about The Guardian's whiplash U-turn on becoming an avid promoter of this false solution.
January 9, 2026 at 8:14 PM
It has not escaped my attention that The Guardian has just published a six part series advocating strongly for developing solar geoengineering technology. It was even led by an editorial claiming "It's time to talk about solar geoengineering." This series is so one-sided, and so egregiously fails
January 9, 2026 at 8:12 PM
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This week we are hosting the @terrahunting.bsky.social science team in Oxford. Terra Hunting will use HARPS3 which is right now being installed on the Isaac Newton Telescope in La Palma to search for nearby Earth analogues. Exciting times! @oxfordphysics.bsky.social @oxoplanets.bsky.social
January 7, 2026 at 1:13 PM
I hope The Guardian is besieged by a flood of letters objecting to their witless turn to promotion of solar geoengineering.
@katharinehayhoe.com @michaelemann.bsky.social , @hausfath.bsky.social . I'm about to send this letter to The Guardian expressing concern over yesterday's SRM article which ignores how the fossil fuel industry could abuse Solar geoengineering R&D. Is this OK? Link follows.. /1 #ClimateCrisis
January 7, 2026 at 6:58 PM
Yet another indication that Daniel is the right person to uphold the fight for progressive values in our district. He is the most experienced candidate, the one with the best plans, and the one who knows our district best having lived and worked here for years, including in government.
I am truly humbled to have the support of Jan Schakowsky in this campaign. She is an icon, a fierce and fearless warrior for our communities and a true friend.
January 7, 2026 at 6:21 PM
All the noisy minority alarmists claiming Oxford's tentative congestion charge will destroy the city should take note of this.
January 6, 2026 at 4:42 AM
Well put.
Everything we've made will break, buildings and streets will crumble, and cities will be abandoned. But the CO₂ we emit into the atmosphere will persist for centuries, and the climatic impacts will last longer than human civilization has existed. This is our legacy for the future.
January 6, 2026 at 2:28 AM
No, it's absolutely not "buying time," since CO2 that accumulates in the atmosphere continues to disrupt the climate for millennia. If you need solar geoengineering to avoid dangerous global heating, you need to keep it up essentially forever.
Any climate solution that begins “a secretive team of scientists is working on…” should probably end with “this won’t fix the real problem”.

Dimming the sun isn’t climate action — it’s avoidance, or buying time at best.

www.independent.co.uk/climate-chan...
Companies are coming up with plans to block out the sun
Private companies are jumping into the race to deploy particles to the atmosphere to reduce global warming, prompting enthusiasm from investors and concerns from some scientists, Josh Marcus reports
www.independent.co.uk
January 6, 2026 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by ClimateBook
Trump and his MAGA enablers lied to Congress and launched illegal, unconstitutional strikes to facilitate regime change in Venezuela. Congress must reassert its war powers authority immediately to halt further military action before we’re pulled further into another senseless war.
January 3, 2026 at 3:40 PM
My thanks to Daniel for being one of the early voices calling out Trumps abuse of the Constitution.
Trump and his MAGA enablers lied to Congress and launched illegal, unconstitutional strikes to facilitate regime change in Venezuela. Congress must reassert its war powers authority immediately to halt further military action before we’re pulled further into another senseless war.
January 3, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Happy birthday! And note that Somerville College at Oxford is named after her. A fitting tribute.
Happy birthday to #mathematician & #polymath, Mary Fairfax Somerville (1780-1872). 🧮👩🏼‍🔬🔭🎢🐡🧪 #histsci As a young widow she made a name for herself when she won a silver medal in 1811 from the Military College at Marlow math journal. Wallace suggested she read Laplace & finding she understood it as 🧵
January 1, 2026 at 11:52 PM
Reposted by ClimateBook
We can be unstoppable in 2026. Join me in fighting for the future we deserve!
January 1, 2026 at 11:37 PM
New Years Eve, ski trail at ABR in Ironwood, MI. Best snow I've had my skis on in several years, including our last spring ski trip to Äkäslompolo.
January 1, 2026 at 7:22 PM
Reposted by ClimateBook
Bucket list item unlocked: I'm so proud to be included as a guest in this year's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures! I'm in Lecture 2 which (in the UK) is aired at 7pm on 29th Dec on BBC4, or on iPlayer now. Tune in to find out why moons might be the best places to find non-Earth life!

EEEEEEEEP!
December 28, 2025 at 5:31 PM
@georgemonbiot.bsky.social has done terrific work in promoting the importance of a more plant-based diet. It is thus with chagrin that I note that The Guardian's advertising department has published a "Guardian Labs" advertorial full of pro-McDonald's propaganda, www.theguardian.com/mcdonalds-my...
The making of a myth: is McDonald’s meat really 100% beef?
When it comes to the food industry, urban legends abound. Here, we examine some widely shared, but false, claims about McDonald’s beef – and give you the chance to put your patty-cooking skills to the...
www.theguardian.com
December 24, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by ClimateBook
"Trump’s shuttering of the National Center for Atmospheric Research is Stalinist" by Bob Ward & yours truly in today's @theguardian.com @us.theguardian.com: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Trump’s shuttering of the National Center for Atmospheric Research is Stalinist | Michael Mann and Bob Ward
This is the latest in the relentless purge of climate researchers who refuse to be co-opted by the fossil fuel industry
www.theguardian.com
December 22, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Warmest wishes on the fourth of Advent, and last day of Chanukah
December 22, 2025 at 5:17 AM